Morung SPORTS P 12 The C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K C M Y K Edited by Along Longkumer, Published and Printed by Aküm Longchari on behalf of Morung for Indigenous Affairs and JustPeace from House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur at Themba Printers and Morung Publications, Padum Pukhuri Village, Dimapur, Nagaland. Email : [email protected], [email protected]. RNI No : NAGENG /2005/15430. House No.4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur 797112, Nagaland. Phone: Dimapur -(03862) News Desk- 281043, Admin -236871, Fax: (03862) 235194, Kohima - (0370) 2291952 For advertisements and circulation, please contact: (03862) 236871, Fax-235194 or email : [email protected] 05 DAYS TO GO Virat Kohli says he is a changed cricketer now BANGALORE, FEB- RUARY 12 (PTI) : Virat Kohli, who is expected to play a vital role in India's middle-order in the up- coming World Cup, said after realising his impor- tance in the team he has become a more matured batsman and is confident of his good showing in the ICC's showpiece event, starting February 19. The 22-year-old Delhi lad said he has worked a lot on the mental aspect of the game and is more focused now as compared to when he first came into lime- light in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, where he lead India to the title. "I have made a few changes in my game in the recent past. I am just trying not to commit un- necessary mistakes, learn from my mistakes. I am trying to use most of the opportunity that is coming my way Consistency key to Aus' 4th consecutive WC quest: Clarke BANGALORE, FEB- RUARY 12 (PTI): Their confidence sky high after drubbing England, Aus- tralian vice-captain Mi- chael Clarke today said consistency would be the key when his team begins chasing a record fourth consecutive World Cup starting February 19. Clarke, who returned to form in the seven-match One-dayseriesagainstEnglandafteradisappointingAsh- es campaign, said to win ICC's showpiece event, Austra- lia need to play as a unit. "Our ODI form has been pretty consistent over the last 12 months. We have really played some pretty good cricket and it was great to win the ODI series against England. We can take a lot of confidence out of that especially after the tough start to the summer we had,"Clarkesaidduringanopenmediasessionheretoday. Don't underestimate Pak: Afridi warns WC teams DHAKA, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Pakistan crick- et captain Shahid Afridi today issued a warning to the other World Cup teams, saying that none should underestimate his side as his players were "focussed and united" un- der his leadership. "They feel hungry to win a big event and want to play good cricket," Afridi told reporters here. Stating that a fruitful tour of New Zealand had bolstered the side's morale, Afridi said Pakistan have left the spot-fixing scandal behind and are now eager to rebuild the team. "I think we're really going through a very toughsituation.ButIamveryhappybecausewearetrying to rebuild the team and keep the morale high," said Afridi, admitting that Pakistan team was severely jolted by the spot-fixing scandal. LONDON, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Top England batsman Kevin Pietersen has decided to quit one-day cricket after the World Cup starting in the subconti- nent next week to prolong his Test and Twenty20 ca- reer, a report said on Satur- day. Pietersen also wants to spend more time with his family and intends to step down from what he sees as the least important form of the game, a report in the 'Daily Mail' tabloid said. If he gives up the 50-over game, Pietersen may lose his central England contract but will be able to play more often for his new county Surrey and in the Indian Premier League also, the newspaper said. Pietersen's appetite for 50-over cricket has been on the wane since he was sacked as England captain in 2009 and then suffered a serious achilles injury, as demonstrated by his dismal record in ODIs over the last two years. He had criticised Eng- land schedule this winter as badly thought-out as most of the top players had been out on tour for five months and will depart for Bangla- desh today for the World Cup after only getting home from the ODI series in Aus- tralia four days ago. "Our schedule has been ridicu- lous going into this World Cup and it is probably why England teams have not done well in past World Cups," he had said. Pieters- en, however, leaves himself open to accusations of dis- loyalty as he will continue to make himself available for the Indian Premier League and will spend around four weeks playing for the Dec- can Chargers on a 375,000 pound sterling contract as soon as the World Cup ends. The 30-year-old's ar- gument is simply that the money is too good to turn down for a relatively short time away from home and that his brush with a pos- sible career-ending injury in 2009 has made him want to cash in on the IPL for as long as he can. 'Pietersen to quit ODIs after World Cup' 'We are ready for Bangladesh' BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Virender Sehwag is ready for Bangladesh, whom India take on in the 2011 World Cup opener. In a chat with the media on Friday, he said: "I think so far we have lost just one or two games against Bangladesh --- one in the World Cup and may be one in Bangladesh. So our record against Bangladesh is very good." He then added that he was charged up to play them again. "We know that in the last World Cup we lost against them and we have been waiting for that mo- ment when we will play against them in the World Cup. We are charged up," he said. Does the team have him play in any particular manner, are they satisfied with his cameos at the top or do they expect him to play long? "I think nobody is telling me what to do. The good part of Team India is the fact that the coach and the captain allow me to bat the way I know to bat. So they are not putting any pressure on me and they say just go and play your natural game. And if you score runs we are happy and if you don't score runs then also we are happy. "My role is to go out there and en- joy myself and give a good start to the team. If I score 20 runs in 10 balls or may be 100 in 70-80 balls I am happy with that. As long as I am scoring more than zero I am happy." Indeed but the same man later said that he wished to bat for the whole 50 overs in an innings. "I think I have never played 50 overs in a match, the maximum I have played is about 42 or 44 overs. So this time I will try to bat full fifty overs if I can and give a good start to the team," said Sehwag. About bowling a few overs, Sehwag, who is recovering from a shoulder injury was more circumspect. "I am taking regu- lar treatment and it (shoulder) should be fine by the time we play the match- es. Yes of course I want to contribute to the team. I don't want to try in the nets and get injured again. So it's bet- ter that when I feel that I am better I can start bowling," he said. BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Australia captain Ricky Ponting is relishing the op- portunity of another batting duel with Sachin Tendulkar in what will probably be their last World Cup. Ponting, 36, the tournament`s sec- ond most prolific batsman behind Tendulkar, said he had always en- joyed playing against the world`s leading runs scorer in test and one- day cricket. "There is no bigger stage than a World Cup for all of us to stand up and perform well," Ponting told a news conference. "I am sure Sachin wants to have a good tournament. I am sure he wants to be a part of the World Cup-winning side, but hopefully he is not." "It probably will be Sachin`s last World Cup and probably my last World Cup as well. I guess we have been lucky over the years to play a lot of crick- et against each other.” "I have always enjoyed the chance of playing against Sachin and playing against the Indian team, especially under these con- ditions here.” "So, nothing will change over the next few weeks. We will enjoy and see who comes out on the top." Ponting, who led Australia to victory in the last two tournaments, said he felt there was no outright favourite for the Feb. 19-April 2 tournament in In- dia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. "There are a number of very good cricket teams out there at the moment," he said. "Yes, we rank number one but we will not be thinking about being the num- ber one team in the next couple of weeks.” "We will be training as hard as anybody else and pre- paring better than anyone else to give ourselves the best chance in the tournament. That is all we can do." Ponting said Australia would miss injured left-hander Michael Hussey, who was Australia`s best batsman in the losing Ashes se- ries. "Losing Michael Hussey is a big loss to our setup. There is no doubt about it," Ponting said. "His experience and his knowledge of the game in tournaments like this are almost second to none. We will miss him" Ponting relishes World Cup duel with Sachin Bhajji prays for India's victory in World cup BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Off-spinner Harb- hajan Singh on Saturday visited a temple and pace spear- head Zaheer Khan took the day off as the Indian team wound up its four-day preparatory camp for the World Cup beginning Feb 19. Harbhajan went to the 'Shani temple', de- voted to Hindu god Shani or Saturn in Thyagarajanagar in south Bangalore and offered prayers. He spent about half- an-hour at the temple. Except for Zaheer, the other team members led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni went through field- ing, bowling and batting practice for about three hours be- fore calling it a day. They take on the Australians in a warm- up game on Sunday. The warm-up game is a day and night show at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which is expected to be full to its capacity of 50,000. Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, left, laughs as teammate Harbhajan Singh gestures during a training session ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Bangalore on February 12. The ICC World Cup Cricket is slated to begin Feb. 19. (AP Photo) MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 12 (TNN): The Indian cricket board has taken a personal ac- cident policy worth $500,000 per player who is a part of the national team that will play in the World Cup. The BCCI has also taken another insur- ance policy to the tune of Rs 130 crore, which will shield it from financial losses in the event of a match being affected by bad weather. Reena Bhatna- gar, deputy general manager, Oriental Insurance Company, said, "The BCCI has bought the group personal accident policy from OIC. Each player can ex- pect a financial benefit of up to Rs 2.3 crore under this policy." The group insurance policy will be in force for two months between February 10 and April 9. "The policy can be invoked in case of death or total disabil- ity, permanent partial disability and temporary total disability to a player or a support staff mem- ber. The policy holders will be paid the monetary compensa- tion for injuries that are sus- tained on and off the field during this 2-month period," said Le- ander Dias, an official from OIC. The policy can also be in- voked if a player or support staff member becomes a victim or sustains injury due a terror attack. An overseas mediclaim policy has also been bought for the team. "The board can expect reimbursement of hos- pitalization expenses on the treatment of players," Dias said "The policy has been provided as per the International Cricket Council's guidelines." The board has also pur- chased another special contin- gency policy for event cancella- tion at a cost of Rs 1 crore. This policy will protect the board against any financial losses owing to the cancellation of matches due to bad weather. An official from the National Insurance Company said, "This policy can be invoked only if the match is cancelled without a single ball being bowled. It can be due to bad light, rains or even an earthquake. If a single ball is bowled before the match is called off, no compensation can be claimed by the board." Each match has been in- sured at a differential amount under the weather related pol- icy. "The minimum and maxi- mum benefit derived under this policy ranges from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 15 crore. Matches involv- ing a lesser degree of popularity can expect low benefit. Match- es involving India, the semi- finals and the final are of high value, hence they command higher benefit." Non-appearance of teams on a match-day has been cov- ered under this policy, said the official. ESPN, the official broadcaster for the tourna- ment, has already bought a Rs 600 crore insurance cover. The board is likely to finalize the policy within a few days as ne- gotiations are underway. The BCCI first took out an insurance policy for the team in 1993. For the 1996 World Cup, the board had taken a pol- icy worth Rs 10 lakh per player. The group insurance policy will be in force for two months be- tween February 10 and April 9. Men in Blue insured for ` 2.3 crore each for WC Pollock believes SA will reach World Cup final JOHANNESBURG, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock believes that the Proteas will reach the final of the World Cup, starting on February 19. Pollock, who played four World Cups, including the one in which he was the captain of South African team in 2003, said this time round there would not be any fear factor for the Proteans. "There is no other team to be afraid of," the Afrikaans weekly Beeld quoted Pollock as saying at a function. "In previous tournaments Australia instilled fear in its opponents because of their domination. This time that is not the case. That is why South Africa have a good chance of returning as world champions," he added. Pollock said South Africa should just survive the group phase, "af- ter that it just needs three big performances to become world champions." He said India will face tremendous pressure as a host nation, while Australia have many problems and will particularly miss the experience of Michael Hussey. "I also favoured the chances of the English, but there is something missing in them. New Zealand is also not a threat and the West Indies are now so weak that they are just making up the numbers. Paki- stan is like the French rugby team -- you never know what mood they will show up," said Pollock.
p12_Feb13_2011
Mar 12, 2016
For advertisements and circulation, please contact: (03862) 236871, Fax-235194 or email : [email protected] the tournament. That is all we can do." Ponting said Australia would miss injured left-hander Michael Hussey, who was Australia`s best batsman in the losing Ashes se- ries. "Losing Michael Hussey is a big loss to our setup. There is no doubt about it," Ponting said. "His experience and his knowledge of the game in tournaments like this are almost second to none. We will miss him"
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Morung SPORTSP 12
TheCMYK
CMYK
CMYK
CMYK
Edited by Along Longkumer, Published and Printed by Aküm Longchari on behalf of Morung for Indigenous A� airs and JustPeace from House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur at Themba Printers and Morung Publications, Padum Pukhuri Village, Dimapur, Nagaland. Email : [email protected], [email protected]. RNI No : NAGENG /2005/15430. House No.4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur 797112, Nagaland. Phone: Dimapur -(03862) News Desk- 281043, Admin -236871, Fax: (03862) 235194, Kohima - (0370) 2291952
For advertisements and circulation, please contact: (03862) 236871, Fax-235194 or email : [email protected]
05 DAYS TO GO
Virat Kohli says he is a changed cricketer now
BANGALORE, FEB-RUARY 12 (PTI) :Virat Kohli, who is expected to play a vital role in India's middle-order in the up-coming World Cup, said after realising his impor-tance in the team he has become a more matured batsman and is confident of his good showing in the ICC's showpiece event,
starting February 19. The 22-year-old Delhi lad said he has worked a lot on the mental aspect of the game and is more focused now as compared to when he first came into lime-light in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, where he lead India to the title. "I have made a few changes in my game in the recent past. I am just trying not to commit un-necessary mistakes, learn from my mistakes. I am trying to use most of the opportunity that is coming my way
Consistency key to Aus' 4th consecutive WC quest: ClarkeBANGALORE, FEB-RUARY 12 (PTI): Their confidence sky high after drubbing England, Aus-tralian vice-captain Mi-chael Clarke today said consistency would be the key when his team begins chasing a record fourth consecutive World Cup starting February 19. Clarke, who returned to form in the seven-match One-day series against England after a disappointing Ash-es campaign, said to win ICC's showpiece event, Austra-lia need to play as a unit. "Our ODI form has been pretty consistent over the last 12 months. We have really played some pretty good cricket and it was great to win the ODI series against England. We can take a lot of confidence out of that especially after the tough start to the summer we had," Clarke said during an open media session here today.
Don't underestimate Pak: Afridi warns WC teams
DHAKA, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Pakistan crick-et captain Shahid Afridi today issued a warning to the other World Cup teams, saying that none should underestimate his side as his players were "focussed and united" un-der his leadership. "They feel hungry to win a big event and want to play good cricket," Afridi told
reporters here. Stating that a fruitful tour of New Zealand had bolstered the side's morale, Afridi said Pakistan have left the spot-fixing scandal behind and are now eager to rebuild the team. "I think we're really going through a very tough situation. But I am very happy because we are trying to rebuild the team and keep the morale high," said Afridi, admitting that Pakistan team was severely jolted by the spot-fixing scandal.
LONDON, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Top England batsman Kevin Pietersen has decided to quit one-day cricket after the World Cup starting in the subconti-nent next week to prolong his Test and Twenty20 ca-reer, a report said on Satur-day. Pietersen also wants to spend more time with his family and intends to step down from what he sees as the least important form of the game, a report in the 'Daily Mail' tabloid said.
If he gives up the 50-over game, Pietersen may lose his central England contract but will be able to play more often for his new county Surrey and in the Indian Premier League also, the newspaper said. Pietersen's appetite for 50-over cricket has been on the wane since he was sacked as England
captain in 2009 and then suffered a serious achilles injury, as demonstrated by his dismal record in ODIs over the last two years.
He had criticised Eng-land schedule this winter as badly thought-out as most of the top players had been out on tour for fi ve months and will depart for Bangla-desh today for the World Cup after only getting home from the ODI series in Aus-
tralia four days ago. "Our schedule has been ridicu-lous going into this World Cup and it is probably why England teams have not done well in past World Cups," he had said. Pieters-en, however, leaves himself open to accusations of dis-loyalty as he will continue to make himself available for the Indian Premier League and will spend around four weeks playing for the Dec-can Chargers on a 375,000 pound sterling contract as soon as the World Cup ends.
The 30-year-old's ar-gument is simply that the money is too good to turn down for a relatively short time away from home and that his brush with a pos-sible career-ending injury in 2009 has made him want to cash in on the IPL for as long as he can.
'Pietersen to quit ODIs after World Cup'
'We are readyfor Bangladesh'BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Virender Sehwag is ready for Bangladesh, whom India take on in the 2011 World Cup opener. In a chat with the media on Friday, he said: "I think so far we have lost just one or two games against Bangladesh --- one in the World Cup and may be one in Bangladesh. So our record against Bangladesh is very good." He then added that he was charged up to play them again. "We know that in the last World Cup we lost against them and we have been waiting for that mo-ment when we will play against them in the World Cup. We are charged up," he said. Does the team have him play in any particular manner, are they satisfi ed with his cameos at the top or do they expect him to play long?
"I think nobody is telling me what to do. The good part of Team India is the fact that the coach and the captain allow me to bat the way I know to bat. So they are not putting any pressure on me and they say just go and play your natural game. And if you score runs we are happy and if you don't score runs then also we are happy.
"My role is to go out there and en-joy myself and give a good start to the team. If I score 20 runs in 10 balls or may be 100 in 70-80 balls I am happy with that. As long as I am scoring more
than zero I am happy."Indeed but the same man later said
that he wished to bat for the whole 50 overs in an innings. "I think I have never played 50 overs in a match, the maximum I have played is about 42 or 44 overs. So this time I will try to bat full fi fty overs if I can and give a good start to the team," said Sehwag. About bowling a few overs, Sehwag, who is recovering from a shoulder injury was more circumspect. "I am taking regu-lar treatment and it (shoulder) should be fi ne by the time we play the match-es. Yes of course I want to contribute to the team. I don't want to try in the nets and get injured again. So it's bet-ter that when I feel that I am better I can start bowling," he said.
BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (AGENCIES): Australia captain Ricky Ponting is relishing the op-portunity of another batting duel with Sachin Tendulkar in what will probably be their last World Cup. Ponting, 36, the tournament`s sec-ond most prolifi c batsman behind Tendulkar, said he had always en-joyed playing against the world`s leading runs scorer in test and one-day cricket. "There is no bigger
stage than a World Cup for all of us to stand up and perform well," Ponting told a news conference.
"I am sure Sachin wants to have a good tournament. I am sure he wants to be a part of the World Cup-winning side, but hopefully he is not." "It probably will be Sachin`s last World Cup and probably my last World Cup as well. I guess we have been lucky over the years to play a lot of crick-
et against each other.”"I have always enjoyed the
chance of playing against Sachin and playing against the Indian team, especially under these con-ditions here.” "So, nothing will change over the next few weeks. We will enjoy and see who comes out on the top." Ponting, who led Australia to victory in the last two tournaments, said he felt there was no outright favourite for the
Feb. 19-April 2 tournament in In-dia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
"There are a number of very good cricket teams out there at the moment," he said. "Yes, we rank number one but we will not be thinking about being the num-ber one team in the next couple of weeks.” "We will be training as hard as anybody else and pre-paring better than anyone else to give ourselves the best chance in
the tournament. That is all we can do." Ponting said Australia would miss injured left-hander Michael Hussey, who was Australia`s best batsman in the losing Ashes se-ries. "Losing Michael Hussey is a big loss to our setup. There is no doubt about it," Ponting said. "His experience and his knowledge of the game in tournaments like this are almost second to none. We will miss him"
Ponting relishes World Cup duel with Sachin
Bhajji prays for India's victory in World cup
BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): O� -spinner Harb-hajan Singh on Saturday visited a temple and pace spear-head Zaheer Khan took the day off as the Indian team wound up its four-day preparatory camp for the World Cup beginning Feb 19. Harbhajan went to the 'Shani temple', de-voted to Hindu god Shani or Saturn in Thyagarajanagar in south Bangalore and o� ered prayers. He spent about half-an-hour at the temple. Except for Zaheer, the other team members led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni went through fi eld-ing, bowling and batting practice for about three hours be-fore calling it a day. They take on the Australians in a warm-up game on Sunday. The warm-up game is a day and night show at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which is expected to be full to its capacity of 50,000.
Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, left, laughs as teammate Harbhajan Singh gestures during a training session ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Bangalore on February 12. The ICC World Cup Cricket is slated to begin Feb. 19. (AP Photo)
MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 12 (TNN): The Indian cricket board has taken a personal ac-cident policy worth $500,000 per player who is a part of the national team that will play in the World Cup. The BCCI has also taken another insur-ance policy to the tune of Rs 130 crore, which will shield it from financial losses in the event of a match being a� ected by bad weather. Reena Bhatna-gar, deputy general manager, Oriental Insurance Company, said, "The BCCI has bought the group personal accident policy from OIC. Each player can ex-pect a fi nancial benefi t of up to Rs 2.3 crore under this policy."
The group insurance policy will be in force for two months between February 10 and April 9. "The policy can be invoked in case of death or total disabil-ity, permanent partial disability and temporary total disability to a player or a support sta� mem-ber. The policy holders will be paid the monetary compensa-tion for injuries that are sus-tained on and o� the fi eld during
this 2-month period," said Le-ander Dias, an o� cial from OIC.
The policy can also be in-voked if a player or support sta� member becomes a victim or sustains injury due a terror attack. An overseas mediclaim policy has also been bought for the team. "The board can expect reimbursement of hos-pitalization expenses on the treatment of players," Dias said "The policy has been provided as per the International Cricket Council's guidelines."
The board has also pur-chased another special contin-gency policy for event cancella-tion at a cost of Rs 1 crore. This policy will protect the board against any financial losses owing to the cancellation of matches due to bad weather. An official from the National Insurance Company said, "This policy can be invoked only if the match is cancelled without a single ball being bowled. It can be due to bad light, rains or even an earthquake. If a single ball is bowled before the match is called o� , no compensation
can be claimed by the board."Each match has been in-
sured at a di� erential amount under the weather related pol-icy. "The minimum and maxi-mum benefi t derived under this policy ranges from Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 15 crore. Matches involv-ing a lesser degree of popularity can expect low benefi t. Match-es involving India, the semi-fi nals and the fi nal are of high value, hence they command higher benefi t."
Non-appearance of teams on a match-day has been cov-ered under this policy, said the official. ESPN, the official broadcaster for the tourna-ment, has already bought a Rs 600 crore insurance cover. The board is likely to finalize the policy within a few days as ne-gotiations are underway.
The BCCI fi rst took out an insurance policy for the team in 1993. For the 1996 World Cup, the board had taken a pol-icy worth Rs 10 lakh per player. The group insurance policy will be in force for two months be-tween February 10 and April 9.
Men in Blue insured for ` 2.3 crore each for WC
Pollock believes SA will reach World Cup fi nalJOHANNESBURG, FEBRUARY 12 (PTI): Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock believes that the Proteas will reach the fi nal of the World Cup, starting on February 19. Pollock, who played four World Cups, including the one in which he was the captain of South African team in 2003, said this time round there would not be any fear factor for the Proteans. "There is no other team to be afraid of," the Afrikaans weekly Beeld quoted Pollock as saying at a function. "In previous tournaments Australia instilled fear in its opponents because of their domination. This time that is not the case. That is why South Africa have a good chance of returning as world champions," he added. Pollock said South Africa should just survive the group phase, "af-ter that it just needs three big performances to become world champions." He said India will face tremendous pressure as a host nation, while Australia have many problems and will particularly miss the experience of Michael Hussey. "I also favoured the chances of the English, but there is something missing in them. New Zealand is also not a threat and the West Indies are now so weak that they are just making up the numbers. Paki-stan is like the French rugby team -- you never know what mood they will show up," said Pollock.